September Wrap-up

Jackson's Cubscout Den had a pancake breakfast last week. 

My mom and brother came with us to Mass ... Colin was out of town partying  working.

Actually at a radiology conference in Atlanta. 

Anyway, not sure why my brother and mom didn't make it into the 5 pictures i took. 

and neither did i. 

I have to get better about including myself and other "grownups" in the pictures.

 Jackson went to town.

Maggie approved.  

 And didn't stop until she cleaned her plate.   And stole the sausage from my plate, too.

 And these two monkeys loved it too. 

I took a couple of pictures after breakfast.

Love that Charlie is still grinning even though he is completely squished.

 

 Our neighbor Aaron came over and hung out with the boys.

They played in the back yard for a while, and then retired to the deck to color. 

We dug the lego duplos out from under Charlie's bed. 

I'm telling you .... best toys ever.  They love the train set. 

They've been out in the playroom for a couple of weeks. They are still running up there to play with them.

 

 

 

Maggie enjoys emptying all the puzzles out of the cabinet.

 

When did he get so old??????

Soccer

Cooper and Jackson started soccer this fall.  

 Jackson actually played along time ago for one season - I think he was three??

Anyway, it is so a big commitment (in my mind) for everyone,

 because it means 2 practices and 2 games every week.  

I am some how convinced I will not be one of those crazy moms who just drives her kids from one activity to another.   HA.   I am assuming it is inevitable at some point (especially with four children).

It is so hard not to feel a need/want to sign them up for so many sports/activities.

By the way, at what point did it change - why are you "behind" in sports in first grade if you haven't been on a team since prek-3??

This is a conversation I could have every day and still not make sense of it.

Anyway, here we are....  at the beginning of soccer season.   : )

For the first games we ALL went to both.   That will most likely never occur again.

Here's what  Maggie looked like the entire time ...

Sweating, drinking, sweating, drinking.

And her romper was sure riding up there, too.

Not sure why I don't have a picture of Charlie, but he was just eating the ENTIRE time. 

"Something else, please" is his favorite phrase right now.

Jackson is number 7.   Big fail on my part.   I only got a picture of his back.

Oh, and here is his on the bench.

He does really well about following rules and hustling.

But he is pretty much the opposite of aggressive.  

He doesn't want to "take" the ball from someone else it seems.

At the same time, he is extremely competitive and keeps score the entire game.

He WANTS his team to win.  

I think they did win their first game. Maybe.  Can't remember now.

Cooper's game was next. 

[His uniform wins hands-down for cuteness]

His games have resembled what you would expect from 4 year olds.   Lots of laughing, high-fiving, and not listening when the coach is calling their names.

He's a bit more aggressive though.  

And if you ask, he "never loses".

Which is true if you don't count all the other teams goals.

Here are the "winners" at the end of the game.

Oh, at one point, his coach substituted another player and Cooper cried, ...  He thought he was done with soccer.   I finally convinced him that all of them have to take water breaks and then they can go back out. 

I walked back to the other side of the field, and next time I looked up he was back on the field (illegally).

Anyway, then he was REALLY upset when his coach asked him to get off the field.

He is really, really enjoying soccer, too. 

They both look forward to practice and the games. 
Mostly, they look forward to the snack after the games.

Margaret Frances.

 

Took a few of Maggie in the playroom a week or two or three ago.

She continues to be such a joy of a baby. or a toddler (boooohoooo)

She has a strong opinion when it comes to food, climbing on things, or getting ahold of my phone...

but other than that she is easy going, silly, and loves attention.  

She has no problem showing her belly button to greet strangers.

She's also big on sticking her finger in her nose when someone says hello.

Can't believe she is almost 18 months old. 

 

First Day of School

All three boys are in school this year!!!   Charlie and Cooper go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week - all day!  And Jackson, of course, is there everyday in first grade.  It's hard to believe that it's just me and Maggie on those three days a week.   We've stayed plenty busy with dr. appts, cleaning, laundry, errands, volunteering, etc.  So far all the boys really love school.  They are so, so tired ... but really happy.   Jackson has had the biggest change I think.   First grade is no joke!  We're getting used to the homework, and he is accepting the fact that they don't have any "free time" in school like he did in Kindergarten. 

Here are some pictures from the first morning.   It had been over a month since I took a picture with my camera (which is an issue I have got to take care of!  I used to take pictures almost daily of the kids ... what happened to that?  And I hate that all the little moments - around the house, etc. will be lost.....)
Anyway, I had the focus set to manual, but was too excited about the first day to notice!   Until I saw how all of the pictures were blurry and out of focus when I finally pulled them up on my laptop.   HA.  

 

 

We walked Jackson to his classroom first 

(While Colin and were talking about where we would go first, Jackson made it very clear that we didn't need to walk him to his classroom.   He knew right where to go, and we could just worry about the other two boys.

HA! 

 

 

 There wasn't anytime to pose with Cooper - his room was FULL of parents, and the kids were having "circle time" on the mat.   

His class is so stinking cute.   There is a group of 7 or so boys that were together last year.

They have a really special bond.  They all play so well together.

There are a handful of "new" kids too - and everyone seems to get along great.

 

 Charlie.  Little Charlie!

In May, he was still in diapers.   I couldn't imagine he would really be ready for school.

I thought he would cry, but to my surprise - not one tear.

He had a few mini-melt downs in the other classrooms - just nervous and it was hectic...

But, when he got in the van at the end of the day, he was so happy that he "didn't cry today at school!"

He tells me that every time I pick him up.

His teacher says that he is very quiet and does really well.

He saves the temper for us at home : )

After school the first day, I picked them up and went to Braums for icecream.  

 

Here's hoping I make a change with taking more pictures and blogging more.

It's worth the time.  

It's hard to find the time.